Predest are announced when the Russian-Austrian star soprano Anna Netrebko appears in the revival of Verdi’s “Macbeth” at the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden this evening. Just a few steps away, an exhibition on Russian war crimes was opened in the presence of the Ukrainian ambassador. Matthias Schulz, director of the State Opera, still sticks by his artist in an interview with the FAZ.
Your attitude, Mr. Schulz, seems unusual at first: Instead of ostracizing and disinviting Anna Netrebko for her closeness to Putin in the past, she is allowed to sing in Berlin. Why?
You really have to be careful not to use artists as scapegoats because you can’t get to the actual warmongers. I can well understand the frustration on the Ukrainian side that more artists and athletes in Russia are not standing up and trying to rouse civil society. I’m frustrated about this too. But the question is: Are we allowed to demand this based on our position? Is it okay to disinvite artists who have expressed themselves – and one can argue to what extent – and who have taken to the pro-Ukrainian stage?
Today, positioning is required.
But I find black and white painting worrying. Opinions also come from people who have not dealt with Anna Netrebko’s personality at all. What starts and happens automatically is frightening. Things are often demanded from a supposedly very secure position, and I find this mechanism crass. Culture as a platform has a very high value. So you should look closely at how someone behaved before and after the outbreak of war. I hope that this will be seen more clearly in the Netrebko case.
By the way, you’ll also listen carefully to how she sings, that’s why she’s there. How do you assess Netrebko’s inner strength?
The pressure on them this evening is extremely high. We invited her back because of the artistic excellence she brought last time and I hope she can show that today. When I think about the rehearsals on Monday and Tuesday, I am confident.
What do you think of the exhibition about Russian war crimes, which opens just a few hours before the start of the opera in the presence of the Ukrainian ambassador?
I exchanged details with the Ukrainian ambassador. We suffer with every single victim of the war and with everything that is happening in Ukraine. It would be fundamentally wrong to assume that the employees of the State Opera do not take a strong interest in the fate of Ukraine just because Anna Netrebko sings here: This connection would be inadmissible, and it is very important to me to make that clear. We have repeatedly expressed our solidarity with Ukraine. People from thirty nations work in our ensemble, including Russians and Ukrainians.
How are you and the Ukrainian ambassador?
We had a long conversation lasting more than ninety minutes that was calm and matter-of-fact. Everyone presented their position. I reminded the ambassador that Anna Netrebko had put herself in danger with her comments about the war. I don’t want to say anything more about it because it was a confidential conversation.
What else can you say about Netrebko’s stance?
She sings on a pro-Ukrainian stage in a pro-Ukrainian house. We will have the Ukrainian flag in front of the building, as we have done on other occasions. What I couldn’t accept: that their performance would be misunderstood as a gesture by the State Opera against Ukraine, as a lack of commitment to the Russian war of aggression. I strongly oppose such interpretations.
You yourself have traced Netrebko’s public statements and attested to a positive development in them – towards the realization and recognition of Putin’s crimes, even if Putin himself is not mentioned by name by the singer.
We have never made it easy for ourselves when assessing Anna Netrebko’s attitude. We also carefully examined the case of the “Turandot” production in summer 2022 and then decided that it would not do that. That was the premiere of a new production! So we took a step back, checked again, weighed every word. We observed: How does she act? If she had performed at the St. Petersburg “White Nights,” we would have drawn our conclusions from that. But it was not like that. And then it is my job to treat artists fairly. We shouldn’t look for substitutes just because we can’t get to the perpetrators. And it must not be the case that bridges in culture are burned in this way. On the contrary, I believe that things that connect must remain possible.
Are you afraid of protests and disruptions in the hall?
You have to take that into account. However, I know that a very large number of our audience are looking forward to finally hearing Anna Netrebko again.
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